U.S. VIEW: "It's all about an army that doesn't have a conscription program," said Lt. Col. Mark Simpson, an Army trainer. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RAMADI, Iraq - Their televised graduation was supposed to be a moment of celebration: A class of 1,000 Sunni Arab soldiers emerging from basic training would show Iraqis that the country's worsening religious divide was not afflicting the national army.

Two months later, only about 300 of them have reported for duty, U.S. officials say.

The evaporation of the class underscores the struggling U.S. and Iraqi effort to increase recruitment from the disgruntled Sunni Arab minority, which forms the backbone of the insurgency.

"Units that are purely Shiite or Kurd or Sunni are looked on by various other sectors of the community as not being representative of their needs," Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview.

The 1,000 graduates were part of a program to recruit 6,500 Sunnis from restive Anbar province. But with two classes of enlistees trained, only 530 soldiers have been added to the ranks, said Lt. Col. Mike Negard, a spokesman for the U.S. training command.

Though the Iraqi army does not track the religious affiliation of its soldiers, U.S. commanders acknowledge Iraq's military lacks a proportionate number of Sunni Arab troops. The effect has been unmistakable.

In Baghdad and elsewhere, civilians in Sunni neighborhoods have attacked Iraqi troops, thinking they were Shiite death squads that have slain hundreds of Sunnis. Such attacks have been rising in many parts of Iraq.

Key Sunni Arab leaders, such as Anbar Gov. Maamoun Sami Rashid al-Alwani, say people often complain about the behavior of Shiite troops. In Ramadi, U.S. Marines recently held public meetings where residents could scold Iraqi soldiers who allegedly stole from homes or mistreated civilians.

Maamoun and other Sunni Arab politicians have long complained the government waited too long to recruit from the Sunni heartland in western Iraq.

Recruiting stations targeting Sunnis were only added west of Fallujah in late 2005 or early this year - while tens of thousands of Shiites had been lining up to enlist in southern Iraq for a year and longer.

The Ministry of Defense blames persistent insurgent attacks in Anbar for the slow recruiting drive.

Many U.S. commanders say the main problem is retaining troops who have already joined.

"It has nothing to do with them being Sunni or Shiite. It's all about an army that doesn't have a conscription program. They can leave whenever they want," said Lt. Col. Mark Simpson, head of a U.S. team training an Iraqi army brigade that has only 70 percent of its authorized soldiers.

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